Veteran broadcast journalist Sir David Frost is in talks to become the new face of al-Jazeera’s satellite TV network, The Guardian newspaper is reporting.

Frost would play a key role in the Arab-language network’s bid to launch a global news service broadcasting in English beginning next year.

But Frost, knighted in Britain, would be appearing on a network that has been accused of being a house organ for al Qaeda and that has run exclusive interviews at length from the terror organization’s leaders.

Al-Jazeera International, based in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar, is intent on gaining access to big-name U.S. and British officials, and Frost could play a major role in that effort because of his track record of landing some of the biggest TV interviews.

Frost, 66, has interviewed the last seven U.S presidents and the last six British prime ministers. His interviews of Richard Nixon were broadcast worldwide.

Al -Jazeera has been staffing its new London office with hires from the major British networks, including the BBC, The Guardian reported. Frost’s BBC Sunday show was dropped by the network earlier this year.

The networks’ fortunes have risen by covering the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as unrest in the Middle East.

Coverage by al-Jazeera has often been criticized as anti-American and for its graphic and inflammatory images of war.

Some al-Jazeera staffers, however, told The Guardian that they fear the network will become more Western and that it “will be a huge disappointment to millions of English-speaking Muslims.”